Manhattan, NY - Just 6 Inches Too Tall for Lincoln Tunnel

Manhattan, NY - A Texas driver who failed to heed height warnings on the New Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel reached Manhattan to find that his truck’s top had peeled back. The tunnel also suffered damage.

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It was just six inches.

That was what made the difference yesterday as Gilberto Cantu, a truck driver from Texas, approached the New Jersey entrance of the center tube of the Lincoln Tunnel in his big rig, loaded with bathtubs, toilets and plumbing fixtures. The truck was 13 feet 6 inches high. The tunnel has a height limit of 13 feet. Six inches can make a big difference.

Mr. Cantu drove the entire 1.5 miles of the tunnel from Weehawken, N.J., to Manhattan, tearing his way under the Hudson River in the tunnel’s center tube and peeling back the roof of his tractor-trailer as if it were a tin can. No one was injured, but an undetermined number of decorative tunnel ceiling tiles were ripped off, and traffic for the morning commute was delayed. [NY Times - VIN]